Corona testing in the country to be increased, Union Health Ministry -

New Delhi: Luv Agrawal, Joint Secretary with the Union Health Ministry, has informed that ‘The number of Coronavirus cases has increased from 979 to more than 8,000 in the last 15 days. 909 new cases were added till Sunday afternoon, taking the total number to 8,356. This is a big challenge; however, the government has always taken measures keeping one step ahead of the pandemic. Currently, stress has increased on medical management and testing.’

34 more people died of Coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 273. The total number of cases in the country reached 8,356 as there was an addition of 909 new cases in the last 24 hours. The Union Health Ministry published this information. At this time, the Union Health Ministry informed regarding the measures initiated by the government, given the increasing number of Coronavirus cases. Agrawal said ‘The government is making all the possible efforts to stop the spread of the virus. There is a commendable contribution, even from the private sector. But it is the cooperation of the common people, which is the most important, in the war against Coronavirus. It is vitally important to follow Social Distancing.’

Saying ‘The union government has always had the policy to be a step ahead of the pandemic. While there is a need of 1,661 isolation beds with Oxygen support, there are 100,500 isolation beds with Oxygen support ready in the country, and the number is growing every day.’ Agrawal underlined that 20,000 isolation beds with Oxygen support have been created in 601 hospitals around the country since the 9th of April.

Currently, the focus of the government is on increasing the number of tests being conducted for Coronavirus. Since the last five days, on an average, 15,747 people have been tested for Corona infection, and nearly 584 samples have been tested positive. ICMR has tested 186,906 samples so far, and out of these, 7,953 samples have been tested positive. 229 test centres are operational as of now, of which, 151 are government and 68 are private. Agrawal informed that the number of tests would be increased in the near future.

Meanwhile, the number of Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra have reached 1,982, with an addition of 221 cases in the last 24 hours. 217 cases out of these are from Mumbai alone. Twenty-two patients died in the state on Sunday. Sixteen out of these are from Mumbai. The number of cases has increased in Dharavi, Jogeshwari, Elphinstone and Worli areas. The announcement of extending the lockdown till the 30th of April was made on Saturday. The administration has pulled up its socks to ensure strict implementation of the lockdown.

The number of cases in Tamil Nadu also has crossed 1,000. Eighty-five new cases were found in Delhi on Sunday, taking the number of cases in Delhi to 1,151. The number of cases is increasing rapidly in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan too.